How Your Daily Habits Might Be Driving Your Burnout

The repercussions of burnout are absolutely devastating, not just for individuals but also for organisations. It’s a recipe for absenteeism, sickness, high turnover, disengagement, and a whole host of other issues. But here’s the thing: burnout is entirely preventable.

Unveiling the Culprit: Your Habits

One of the main culprits responsible for burnout is our habits. These sneaky little devils are so deeply ingrained within us that we often don’t even realise the toll they’re taking until it’s too late. Many of us fall into the trap of working longer and harder, living in a constant state of stress, all under the misguided belief that this is the path to success. As Samuel Johnson so aptly put it:

“The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.”

Take a moment to reflect on your workweek and consider how many of your actions leave you feeling drained and overwhelmed. You might start noticing that you’ve become entangled in a perpetual cycle of overcommitting, neglecting self-care, setting the wrong priorities, or struggling to utter that two-letter word: “no”. These are all habits that can contribute to burnout.

Today, we’re taking a deep dive into a pressing global issue that plagues leaders everywhere. Specifically, we’ll explore how your habits might very well be the invisible chains keeping you bound to that relentless burnout cycle. But the key to your own transformation is right there in your hand.

Deciphering the Burnout Puzzle

Let’s first get clear on what burnout truly means. It’s not just the run-of-the-mill stress or feeling worn out. Burnout is the emotional, physical, and mental overload that hits you when you continually withdraw from your energy bank account without making sufficient deposits.

Your journey from burnout to high performance commences with a seemingly simple, but oh-so-powerful shift in your habits. As Will Durant once famously echoed, “We are what we repeatedly do.” Excellence, my friends, is a habit. And by rewriting those habits of yours, you can unlock that remarkable potential within you, that high-performance mode.

Don’t allow burnout to be the force holding you back from greatness.

Listen to a podcast episode all about this topic here: /podcast

Breaking Free: Where to Begin

Start with Self-Awareness

When it comes to breaking free from these deeply entrenched habits and making an escape from the clutches of burnout, it all starts with self-awareness. Take a moment to reflect on those habits that are holding you back. What are you repeatedly doing that leaves you feeling completely drained and utterly overwhelmed?

Dig into the “Why”

Once you’ve identified these culprits, it’s time to dig deep into the “why” behind them. Often, fear plays a colossal role in perpetuating these unhelpful behaviours. Fear of losing your job, fear of rejection, or even fear of losing control can drive you towards making unhealthy choices. By recognising and addressing these underlying fears, you can begin the journey of transforming your habits.

Find the “How”: Alternative, More Productive Behaviours

The “how” of habit change lies in finding alternative, more productive behaviours. If you’re a certified workaholic, this might mean:

• Setting some clear boundaries
• Mastering the art of delegation
• Trusting your team to handle their fair share of tasks

It won’t be easy. But with the right strategies and support, it’s an achievable mission.

The Ways of Working Programme

That’s where the Ways of Working Programme swoops in as your trusty transformational tool. This comprehensive solution is tailor-made to help individuals and teams shift their habits, paving the way towards high performance. This treasure trove of wisdom focuses on:

• Understanding your triggers
• Identifying healthier alternatives
• Providing all the support and resources you need to make lasting change

Once you recognise those habits that are keeping you firmly stuck in the burnout muck and get to the bottom of the fears that fuel them, you’ll be well on your way to transformation.

Share your thoughts and experiences with the following hashtags: #TheHighPerformanceLeaderPodcast, #HabitShift, #HighPerformance, #WaysOfWorking, #BreakFreeFromBurnout. Together, let us thrive and flourish, both in our personal and professional lives.

If this sounds like your week

Your managers are not the problem. They are where the problem is stuck.

When your last leadership spend was signed off, did anyone go back to those managers' bosses and ask what changed? That question is the JBL Outcome Standard, and it is how I work.

• Find the friction. A short diagnostic that shows which decisions are stalling, and at what level.
• Am I the bottleneck? Ten questions on where your week is actually going.
• How I work with GMs. Six weeks, one hour a week, up to twelve of your managers, scored by their own bosses.
• Beat Burnout, Boost Performance. The book.
• The High Performance Leader podcast.

Managers I work with reclaim around four hours a week, and their bosses score the change 8.75 out of 10. Would it be a crazy idea to find out how we did this? Book a scoping call.